FastStart Peterborough, an entrepreneurial training partnership for young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 29, is bringing back its Kawartha Backcountry Entrepreneurship Experience for youth entrepreneurs for a second year.
The Kawartha Backcountry Entrepreneurship Experience is a unique three-day bootcamp that combines a full day of interactive classroom-style learning with two days of practical learning in the wilderness, through activities including canoeing, camping, teamwork, and survival training.
The bootcamp is open to all aspiring and current entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 29 who want to learn about starting their own business or further develop their skills.
While 60 spaces are available for the one-day classroom session, the two-day backcountry component is limited to 20 applicants who must apply online by Friday, July 29, 2016.
“Last year’s bootcamp created new companies and pushed current entrepreneurs to their limits to show them that they are capable of handling intense pressures,” says Entrepreneurship and Marketing Coordinator Rose Terry, who joined the 20 successful applicants in last year’s bootcamp.
FastStart Peterborough and The Land Canadian Adventures (2014 Bears’ Lair winner) have again joined forces this year to organize the Kawartha Backcountry Entrepreneurship Experience.
It begins with a one-day session called “Entrepreneurship 2.0” on Friday, August 26th at Fleming College, which will feature a successful entrepreneur as the keynote speaker. Sixty spaces are available for this free session and you can register at Eventbrite.
Twenty successful applicants who participate in the one-day session will go on to the backcountry component of the program on Saturday, August 27th and Sunday, August 28th.
Backcountry participants will apply what they learned in the one-day session in a wilderness setting. They will be organized into teams and exposed to a fun and competitive simulation to address entrepreneurial challenges and develop ideas for new business ventures.
Their ideas will be judged by entrepreneurs, experts, and their peers who will award a $500 prize to the winning team.
Those interested in the backcountry component must apply online by Friday, July 29, 2016 at www.innovationcluster.ca/programs/discoverentrepreneurship/.
To reduce barriers to participation, the costs of the program will be covered in full by FastStart — including round-trip transportation, parks fees, and food. Bootcamp participants will also be provided with equipment, sleeping gear, organized entrepreneurship programming, and the services of trained guides.
FastStart Peterborough is a collaboration between Trent University, Fleming College and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster.
